Top 4 ATP Hard Court Players

On the hard courts, movement is key.- Coach Sean

Pete Sampras

Hard court titles: 39

The fast-serving and deft-volleying American was well suited to the hard courts of the 1990s when they were much faster than those now. Hence, he was able to transfer his prowess on the grass courts of Wimbledon onto the hard-surfaced grand slam tournaments. What I found most frightening watching highlights of Sampras was the high bounces which his serves took upon landing on the hard surface. This is we argue much more deadly than the straight-flying missile-like serves typically unleashed by him at Wimbledon, for he can toy with variation to deadly effect. How does he seperate himself from other great servers of his era such as Boris Becker and Goran Ivanesevic? he did so by his more balanced and flexible movement.

Andre Agassi

Hard court titles: 48

Despite his comparatively meagre amount of grand slam titles, Agassi ranks as the third-best hard court tennis player in history with the 48 hardcourt ATP torunament wins under his very long belt. Andre Agassi's movement along with his hard-hitting abilities have served him well. You may wonder, given his offensive ability (his trademark is the taking-of-the-ball-on-the-rise shot), does he not perform as well as on the grass surface? There are two reasons. The most obvious and self-answering is the fact that Agassi's movement style is not as suited for the slippery surface of grass, which is more suited for movement styles more feather-liek and less intermittent. The second reason is that the low bounces on grass meant that it is harder to disrupt the rhythem of the opponent Agassi-style (hitting on the rise) as most the shots being received by Agassi's opponent would be low anyway.

Novak Djokovic

Hard court titles: 49

Most people that Djokovic is one of the greatest players of the present, but due to what we call the 'Federer-Nadal overshadowing effect', most people do not realize that Djokovic is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and is in fact the second best tennis player ever on the hard surfaces. His counterpunching style and amazing movement made him virtually unbeatable on the hard surfaces for long stints of time. The hard surface is naturally meant for such type of play, given its facility of movement, so each effort of movement yields much greater returns for the player when compared to the other court surfaces. His contemporary and fellow-counterpuncher as equally suited to hard court play as him, Andy Murray, almost made it to this list with 34 titles (which although unfortunately insufficient to put Murray here is sufficient for the purpose of proving our claim that Djokovic's unique game style and traits make him so good on the hard).

Roger Federer

Hard court titles: 68

The greatest tennis player of all time is also not quite coincidentally the winner of the most hard court grand slam titles (11 - 6 Australian Open, 5 US Open) and hard court ATP titles. To have a sense of just how impressive such a number is - the next best number when it comes to had court ATP titles won is 49, while the next best number when it comes to hard court grand slam titles won is 8. How did Federer attain such ultimate dominance over the hard courts? The answer could be encapsulated in this snapshot of a sports comnmentary on Federer's movement as his trouncing Hewitt in the 2004 US Open final.

He moves like water.- Sports Commentator

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